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[BancardGuy]

I'm looking to form strategic partnerships and referral relationships with B2B insurance agents throughout the US.


With over 10 years experience in credit card processing and being familiar with the insurance industry from my days practicing law, I have noticed a tremendous parallel between the two industries. Further, I know of many B2B insurance reps that have begun monetizing their existing client and prospect lists by adding credit card processing to their suite of services. Like insurance, merchant services operates on a residual based compensation model, offering lifetime/vested monthly residuals.


If any forum members have interest in discussing/exploring a strategic relationship, please get in touch.

 

[WinoBlues]

I'm looking to form strategic partnerships and referral relationships with B2B insurance agents throughout the US.


With over 10 years experience in credit card processing and being familiar with the insurance industry from my days practicing law, I have noticed a tremendous parallel between the two industries. Further, I know of many B2B insurance reps that have begun monetizing their existing client and prospect lists by adding credit card processing to their suite of services. Like insurance, merchant services operates on a residual based compensation model, offering lifetime/vested monthly residuals.


If any forum members have interest in discussing/exploring a strategic relationship, please get in touch.

This should be an interesting thread.

 

[somarco]

Used car salesmen, tin men and bank card reps. Can't tell them apart.

 

[YouGotMyMoney]

Many moons ago I sold merchant services over the phone for First Data, those pikers will drop you to save $0.001 per transaction!

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

First Data? Oh Lord (off tangent, here we go) - my first processor for my association. I should have known better when my application got approved same day without even a phone call to verify I was legitimate.

So I start processing credit cards for ohhhh....about 6 weeks. Then bam - got an email saying my account was suspended and to contact risk management.

So I tried and tried to call risk management - all VM. Finally days later they called me back - said they needed all kinds of stuff; bank statements, full info from my last 10 members so they could contact them, etc...on and on.

Of course, they had been depositing daily into my bank so they weren't holding much. I was ticked since there wasn't a single chargeback or bad report. Nothing. They had suspended my account for no reason; "security review" was all they said.

I told them I'd never have a processor that would randomly lock up my account for no reason. They said they'd hold my funds for six month. I told them to blow it out their a** and keep the damned funds (which I did indeed get deposited six months later.)

Learned a valuable lesson.

 

[YouGotMyMoney]

Learned a valuable lesson.

Yeah only accept cash and money orders.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

....or go with a processor with a thorough vetting process. They don't approve all applications - need to review your products/services, bank statements, credit reports, before approval.

 

[WinoBlues]

Now, just imagine that your trusted Insurance Agent had referred/sold them to you.

First Data? Oh Lord (off tangent, here we go) - my first processor for my association. I should have known better when my application got approved same day without even a phone call to verify I was legitimate.

So I start processing credit cards for ohhhh....about 6 weeks. Then bam - got an email saying my account was suspended and to contact risk management.

So I tried and tried to call risk management - all VM. Finally days later they called me back - said they needed all kinds of stuff; bank statements, full info from my last 10 members so they could contact them, etc...on and on.

Of course, they had been depositing daily into my bank so they weren't holding much. I was ticked since there wasn't a single chargeback or bad report. Nothing. They had suspended my account for no reason; "security review" was all they said.

I told them I'd never have a processor that would randomly lock up my account for no reason. They said they'd hold my funds for six month. I told them to blow it out their a** and keep the damned funds (which I did indeed get deposited six months later.)

Learned a valuable lesson.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

I would have wanted to know why he recommended a credit card processor that doesn't vett applications before approval.

 

[BancardGuy]

I thought my post might elicit some interesting responses. Maybe I should have chosen the name SittingDuck instead of BancardGuy. All valid comments (except maybe the used car salesmen post as there are good and bad reps in all sales industries - even insurance).

I think a lot of the negativity relative to the merchant services industry has a lot to do with the fact that there are no licensing/certification requirements. This opens the door to any Tom, Dick or Harry to go out and sell, regardless of whether they understand what they are selling. That does not, however, mean that there aren't legitimate companies and sales reps operating in the space and providing a tremendous amount of value to their clients. Also keep in mind that compared to insurance, the merchant services industry is still in its infancy. On one hand, that leads to certain growing pains like licensing and certification. On the other, it means that there is a tremendous amount of growth to capitalize on.

I think healthagent's comment is a good example of how some of the bad players in our industry go about things. Very liberal on underwriting and tight on risk. NAB is quite the opposite. We don't board a merchant without a thorough vetting process (bank statements, previous processing statements, credit pulls, site surveys, etc). This is one of the reasons we've been around for 17+ years, are one of the larger acquirers in the country, and have razor thin attrition ratios. Further, we apply these same principles when determining whether to sign an outside agent or sales organization, performing background and credit checks on everyone we do business with. Check us out at the BBB for more info - I can't embed links since I haven't reached 10 posts, but please search North American Bancard at the BBB website and you'll see we have an A+ rating.

With all of that said, the fact that more and more non-payment companies and industries are beginning to enter the payment space is a good indication that things might be changing in the near future (Microsoft, Office Max, founder of Twitter w/ Square, Apple, Facebook, etc). Further, I am seeing more and more insurance sales organizations enter the space.

This is evident by the increase in sales organizations that are choosing to register direct with Visa & Mastercard. Without getting into too many details, what this means is that these insurance companies are paying $10k initial registration fees and $5k annual fees to the card associations. While this is not a necessity to sell merchant services, what it provides is for branded merchant statements, the ability to advertise rates & fees under their company name/logo, and have a say in the underwriting process depending on the amount of liability they're able to stomach.

You would have to imagine that these companies are finding a tremendous amount of value selling merchant services to write a $10k check and $5k a year thereafter- even if they are just selling an old Buick.